Sunday: Grieved by Evil
Daily Lesson for Sunday 26th of January 2025
The God of the Bible loves justice and hates evil. Sin and evil, therefore, provoke Him to passion, a passion expressed on behalf of those oppressed and abused, and even in cases in which one’s evil affects primarily oneself. God hates evil because evil always hurts His creatures, even if self-inflicted. In the biblical narratives, God is repeatedly provoked to anger by what biblical scholars refer to as the cycle of rebellion. This cycle goes as follows:
Image © Rolf Jansson at Goodsalt.com
The people rebel against God and do evil, sometimes even horrendous atrocities, such as child sacrifice and other abominations in His sight.
God withdraws according to the people’s decisions.
The people are oppressed by foreign nations.
The people cry to God for deliverance.
God graciously delivers the people.
The people rebel against God again, often more egregiously than before.
In the face of this cycle of egregious evil and infidelity, however, God repeatedly meets human unfaithfulness, but with unending faithfulness, long-suffering forbearance, amazing grace, and deep compassion.
Read Psalms 78:1-72. What does this passage convey about God’s response to His people’s repeated rebellions?
According to the Bible, love and justice are intertwined. Divine anger is the proper response of love against evil because evil always hurts someone whom God loves. There is no instance in Scripture where God is arbitrarily or unfairly wrathful or angry.
And while God’s people repeatedly forsook and betrayed Him, over the centuries God continued patiently to bestow compassion beyond all reasonable expectations (Nehemiah 9:7-33), thus demonstrating the unfathomable depth of His long-suffering compassion and merciful love. Indeed, according to Psalms 78:38, God, “being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath” (NKJV).
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Surely, you have been angry over the evil done to others. How does this emotion help you better understand, then, God’s wrath toward evil? |
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I don't want to write a long comment this morning because in writing about God's judgement and mercy, we are sometimes guilty of constructing a God in our own image and after our likeness. The most cogent arguments against Christianity involve perceptions of God's action, and especially inactions in the face of mankind's persistent evil and consequent suffering.
Meaningful responses to these arguments can be quite involved. While it is easy among Christians to write a few pithy statements that get a lot of "Amens," constructing an argument that gives non-believers pause for thought requires considerable effort.
I will leave the experience of C S Lewis as something to seed your thinking this week. Here he is giving the argument that changed his mind for the existence of a benevolent and loving God:
[When I was studying "Christian Evidences" as a student about sixty years ago, there were two books by C S Lewis that greatly encouraged me. "The Problem of Pain" and "Reflections on the Psalms" Both of these books gave me new insights into the nature of God and his place in a seemingly indifferent world. These books are available from all the commercial sources, but they are also available free in Pdf from a number of sites. I will include some sites here but they may not work for everyone so you may need to do your own search.
The Problem of Pain
Reflections on the Psalms]
Thank you for sharing your information!
On Sabbath morning before I woke up from bed, suddenly a somber and sad feeling overwhelmed my thoughts about the war which is going on between Ukraine and Russia. I prayed for the families that have lost their loved ones on both sides, I cried to God to bring the war to an end. From time to time, I have troubling feelings about the terrible suffering caused by wars. As we speak there are about 173 million people globally who are directly affected by war crises. In perspective, this is a combined population of New York City (8.5 million), Tokyo (14 million) and London (9 million) multiplied by 10 times. This is a staggering number of our fellow human beings who are going through intense suffering perhaps not of their making. How does our loving and compassionate Father in heaven feel about this? Is our God indifferent about the suffering of 173 million people? How do these feel about God?
We can allow the Bible to explain some of these complex human problems, yet we have no full capacity to comprehend what the Bible says in its entirety. Yes, we can put a biblical spin to some of these human sufferings, but only God who has the answer. We might not have answer what is going around the world or around us or within us, but thanks to God who comforts our troubled souls through the power of the Holy Spirit. He comforts us that a day is coming when He will wipe away all the tears from our eyes (Revelation 21:1-4). This is our blessed hope. This is what keeps us going when we feel like throwing in the towel.
Even though we seem to be perplexed by the intensity of human suffering, the Word of God gives comforting assurance. Let us remind ourselves of some of these assurances.
1. God’s heart is broken over our sufferings:
a) Psalm 34:18:"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”
b) Isaiah 63:9: "In all their distress, He too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them."
2. God’s compassion is boundless:
a) Lamentations 3:22-23: "Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness".
b) Matthew 9:36: "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
3. God hears the cries of His people:
a)Exodus 3:7: "The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering".
4. God will act justly against injustice:
a)Isaiah 61:8: "For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing."
b) Revelation 21:4: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
God is never indifferent with our suffering. He sent His begotten Son to take our punishment in order to save from eternal condemnation. The Cross is the answer to our earthly sufferings. For one day all earthly sufferings will come to an end because of what happened on the Cross. Thank you, Jesus, for taking up my punishment.
At human level, a person gets angry. After some time, a person returns his anger and forgives. But God, better than man, often returns His wrath with compassion and lifts His wrath.
In Psalm 78 But he was filled with compassion and forgave their sins. God's response to their stubborn rebellion, their heart-searching, their unfaithfulness to his covenant was amazing. God showed his compassion, forgave him, and often turned back his anger.
Because sin began with human reasoning setting itself up as superior to faith in God’s word, we are faced in the Bible and in life with the often continuous prospect of faith being counterintuitive to human reason, especially in our unconverted state. Once converted we still have many questions that we cannot make sense of and must continue to choose between the two. I believe God understands all of this and though not giving us all of the answers He helps us along the way by tokens of His love and Grace to enable us if we are willing to maintain the faith He gives us.
Human language falls so short in describing God’s patience, long suffering, and restraint in dealing with evil. The justice, mercy, and grace of God are all byproducts of His character of love.
He would have been justified in destroying Adam and Eve when they rebelled, but God had a plan.
He would have been justified in fully destroying mankind with the flood of Noah's day, but God had a plan.
He would have been justified in blotting Israel out of existence in the wilderness, when they rebelled against His loving kindness, time and again. He could have started over with Moses, but God had a plan.
He could have destroyed us when we continually turned our backs on Him, hardened our hearts against Him, and indulged our sinful nature, in opposition to His precepts and principles...but God has a plan.
Do the things that break His heart break ours too, or are we entertained by them in our choices of media, or our indifference to the manifold suffering on this "blue marble?"
In spite of all this, God still has a plan to redeem His people and bring them to their senses and Himself. Jer. 29:11, and many other passages speak of God’s plan and desires for humanity.
Ezekiel 18:31-32 and Ezekiel 33:10-11 ask, "Why will you die, O house of Israel?". God takes no pleasure in the death of the rebellious. Although at this point in the history of the world, He should be totally fed up with the rebellion of the people, even those that wear His name.
What an unfathomable God we are blessed with in Jehovah-Elohim, the Lord God, much better than the pagan gods. Joshua 25:14 is still as true today as when first spoken. May we choose life, and blessings today. Choose Jehovah-Elohim, let His love purge the rebellion out of our lives.
God is indeed grieved by evil, but His grief is not comparable to human grief. His grief is existential, tied to the very essence of His being and the nature of existence itself. This divine grief reflects a broader sorrow over the inherent limitations and suffering within creation. Unlike human grief, which often stems from empathy and shared sorrow, God’s grief arises from witnessing the brokenness and pain in the world He lovingly created. It is a grief rooted in His perfect Love and Holiness.
The concept of “altruism” comes to mind when considering today’s lesson. When people rebel against God, they often act selfishly and unkindly, failing to reflect His loving and compassionate nature. Despite this, God’s full spectrum of Love — His compassion, faithfulness, and mercy — is consistently expressed toward His people. This Love is particularly evident in His relationship with the children of Israel, His adopted sons and daughters, in whom He planted and nurtured the seed of righteousness.
Was God’s longsuffering 'self-serving'? One might ask this, considering that He spoke to His people through the prophets, foretelling that the Messiah, the Savior, would come from the family of Jesse, the father of David. Isaiah 11:1-10 captures this promise beautifully:
• Verse 1: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”
• Verses 2-3: “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD — and He will delight in the fear of the LORD.”
• Verse 9: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”
These verses emphasize God’s faithfulness to His promises and His deep investment in the redemption of His creation.
God’s commitment to His people and His creation is not 'selfish' or 'self-serving'. Rather, it is self-centered in the most holy and redemptive sense. By remaining steadfast in His purpose, God works to restore Life to His creation, bringing hope and renewal to a broken world.
As Psalm 33:12 declares, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He chose for His inheritance.” Similarly, 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us of our calling as a “chosen people” to declare His praises, and Titus 2:14 highlights that Christ gave Himself to redeem us and purify a people eager to do what is good.
In summary, God’s Grief, Love, and Longsuffering are inseparable from His divine nature and purposes. Far from being selfish, His actions are profoundly altruistic, aimed at restoring life, righteousness, and communion with Him. This is the ultimate expression of His Love and Faithfulness, extended to all who choose to walk in His ways.